Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on March 13, 2020, announced that it has approved the application for a business split submitted by nine utilities. Each of the utilities’ transmission and distribution businesses will be legally separated starting on April 1, 2020. The utility split aims to secure the neutrality of the power transmission and distribution sector, in accordance with the Electricity Business Law Amendment Bill enacted in June 2015 (Act No. 47 of 2015).
The nine utilities include the following[1];
· Hokkaido Electric Power (HEPCO, Headquarters: Sapporo City, Hokkaido)
· Tohoku Electric Power (Tohoku, Headquarters: Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture)
· Chubu Electric Power (Chuden, Headquarters: Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture)
· Hokuriku Electric Power (Rikuden, Headquarters: Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture)
· Kansai Electric Power (KEPCO, Headquarters: Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture)
· Chugoku Electric Power (EnerGia, Headquarters: Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture)
· Shikoku Electric Power (Yonden, Headquarters: Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture)
· Kyushu Electric Power (Kyuden, Headquarters: Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture)
· Electric Power Development (J-POWER, Headquarters: Tokyo).
There are two forms of splits that will be implemented: (1) implementing a holding company structure or (2) establishing the power generation/retail division as a parent company. The image below shows the post-split business structure for each company.
